We face a situation in which you will have to accept a certain amount of chaos and make things up as you go along. I usually do not check e-mail at night, and during the day it may be a few hours before I reply. So to a large degree, you'll be teaching yourself. Ready? Good. It's a great skill to acquire for the world beyond our college gates.
General Advice:
When you arrive at the Library (if you are not working full remote) have a sign with your name and "Writing Consultant" on it. We used to make them for every Consultant and put them in our tutoring room. This semester, the Collaborative Area in Boatwright may be closed and you won't get to the room. So make a sign so writers can find you.
If the room is open, you may use with a writer unless our current social distancing protocols prohibit it. In that case, you MUST go elsewhere to have the meeting. There's also the chance that the Collaborative Area will fill after you enter, and writers won't find you. That we cannot help, but if a writer has e-mailed you in advance to set something up, they may be near the Library entrance and not able to go further. Go looking for them.
Everyone else, online or in-person, is a walk-in.
Login to your Zoom Room, even if you are working in person. Why? For Zoom, you may have a 383 Apprentice as well as a writer. We do not require a password for Zoom rooms, as they lie behind UR's login credentials (thank you, Web Support Team!).
If you are a paid hourly Consultant, you'll have admin privileges in your room. You can admit folk from the Waiting Room, so check that during your shift regularly.
If you have a writer in-person, check in at Zoom occasionally during the conference. Let the writer in front of you know why. Your Apprentice may be late. Writers waiting to get in when you have an in-person meeting will have to wait.
Try to keep Zoom meetings to 30 minutes, if others are in the waiting room. 15 minutes is generally NOT enough for a good conference, but if the writer wants to dash off, there's little you can do.
Hello! Breaking the Ice
Greet writers, in-person or on Zoom, as usual: "Welcome to the Center. I'm.... " and after they tell you who they are, a good conversation starter is "So tell me about the assignment and professor."
You need to get the information from the writer shown on the conference information sheet we used to have them fill out in person. Without this information, you cannot fill out a summary to the professor later.
Advise the writer of their right not to have a summary sent; you can use the language on the conference information sheet to guide what you say.
If they don't want one sent, them that we'll only record for Dr. Essid's statistics that they came in and the basics of what we worked on. We won't, in such cases, send anything to the prof. Fill out a summary form with Joe Essid as the professor. It will go to him only, for our records.
Remote conferences still should emphasize beginning with the assignment and focus, as well as addressing the writer's or professor's priorities.
Tech Help:
Test your Mic and Speakers, using this image to guide you.
I've set the rooms so each participant begins with video on and mic off. You will need to unmute yourself and your participants. Here are images to show you how, live from my home office: sound and video for yourself and participants.